A Bassa Heart

When Robert Hyslop became a Christian and felt the call to serve God for the rest of his life, his response was, ‘Anything Lord.’ His Heavenly Father recognised the sincerity of this commitment in His child and took him up on it. ‘Anything Lord’ meant setting out with a new wife to a tropical country to teach a remote tribe about Jesus.

When Robert Hyslop became a Christian and felt the call to serve God for the rest of his life, his response was, ‘Anything Lord.’ His Heavenly Father recognised the sincerity of this commitment in His child and took him up on it. ‘Anything Lord’ meant setting out with a new wife to a tropical country to teach a remote tribe about Jesus.

It meant building a little mud house in a location not accessible from anything even resembling a road and learning a new language to allow him to communicate with the people and then translate the Old Testament for them to read. It involved riding a motorbike over rough tracks in searing heat to reach isolated villages and bring the Gospel to people who had never heard.

It entailed encountering opposition from native witch-doctors and obstructive government officials. It meant believing, and then proving, God’s promise to ‘supply his every need,’ often through times of great testing. It involved acquiring and then clearing a plot of virgin African soil and building a home and establishing a Bible School on a mission compound.

It resulted in living amongst, experiencing the joy and blessing of God amongst, and departing for heaven from amongst, the Bassa people central Nigeria. These were the men and woman whose affectionate name for their counselor and friend most accurately described someone who had dedicated his life to God for them.